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Domestic/Intimate Partner Violence: Batterer Intervention Programs

Scientific Ratings in this Topic
  • 1 Well-Supported by Research Evidence
  • 2 Supported by Research Evidence
  • 3 Promising Research Evidence
  • 4 Evidence Fails to Demonstrate Effect
  • 5 Concerning Practice
  • NR Not able to be Rated

Topic Areas

Topic Areas

Definition

Domestic/Intimate Partner Violence: Batterer Intervention Programs are defined by the CEBC as any program that intervenes with the abuser in a Domestic/Intimate Partner Violence situation. Over one million women in the United States are physically assaulted by their partner each year. Often, victims of domestic/intimate partner violence come to the attention of Child Welfare Services not as a victim, but as a parent who was not able to protect their child. Research from the Domestic Violence and Children: Analysis and Recommendations Study indicates that between 3.3 million and 10 million children in the United States are exposed to Domestic/Intimate Partner Violence each year. It is estimated that 70% of men who abuse their female partners also abuse their children. Children in homes where domestic violence occurs have a greater than 1500% higher risk of being seriously neglected and physically or sexually abused. For more information on this topic and how it relates to child welfare, please visit the Child Welfare Information Gateway's section on Domestic Violence: https://www.childwelfare.gov/topics/casework-practice/domestic-violence/?top=292.

  • Target population: Men or women who have been abusive in a Domestic/Intimate Partner Violence situation
  • Services/types that fit: Typically outpatient services, either individual or group
  • Delivered by: Mental health professionals or trained paraprofessionals
  • In order to be included: Program must specifically target abusive behavior as a goal
  • In order to be rated: There must be research evidence (as specified by the Scientific Rating Scale) that examines outcomes related to abusive behavior, such as changes in behaviors or reports of abuse

Definition

Domestic/Intimate Partner Violence: Batterer Intervention Programs are defined by the CEBC as any program that intervenes with the abuser in a Domestic/Intimate Partner Violence situation. Over one million women in the United States are physically assaulted by their partner each year. Often, victims of domestic/intimate partner violence come to the attention of Child Welfare Services not as a victim, but as a parent who was not able to protect their child. Research from the Domestic Violence and Children: Analysis and Recommendations Study indicates that between 3.3 million and 10 million children in the United States are exposed to Domestic/Intimate Partner Violence each year. It is estimated that 70% of men who abuse their female partners also abuse their children. Children in homes where domestic violence occurs have a greater than 1500% higher risk of being seriously neglected and physically or sexually abused. For more information on this topic and how it relates to child welfare, please visit the Child Welfare Information Gateway's section on Domestic Violence: https://www.childwelfare.gov/topics/casework-practice/domestic-violence/?top=292.

  • Target population: Men or women who have been abusive in a Domestic/Intimate Partner Violence situation
  • Services/types that fit: Typically outpatient services, either individual or group
  • Delivered by: Mental health professionals or trained paraprofessionals
  • In order to be included: Program must specifically target abusive behavior as a goal
  • In order to be rated: There must be research evidence (as specified by the Scientific Rating Scale) that examines outcomes related to abusive behavior, such as changes in behaviors or reports of abuse

Why was this topic chosen by the Advisory Committee?

The Domestic/Intimate Partner Violence: Batterer Intervention Programs topic area is relevant to child welfare for multiple reasons. First, child welfare agencies recognize the complexity of the co-occurrence of domestic/intimate partner violence and child abuse. Second, children who witness domestic violence face significant risks, including behavioral, emotional, and physical health related challenges and experiencing other abuses in the home. Children who are exposed to domestic violence often present with depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, anger, guilt, fear, and violence towards peers. According to the Impact of Domestic Violence on Children study, children as young as 5 have a tendency to lose respect for the victim and identify with the aggressor. Since it is understood that partner violence is a learned behavior and not the result of addiction, genetics, disease, or the fault of the victim; services for batterers are vital to ensure safety for women and children, reduce recidivism, teach responsible behavior, and to break the "legacy of violence and oppression" within familial relationships.

Deborah Reeves, MSW
Former CEBC Advisory Committee Member

Why was this topic chosen by the Advisory Committee?

The Domestic/Intimate Partner Violence: Batterer Intervention Programs topic area is relevant to child welfare for multiple reasons. First, child welfare agencies recognize the complexity of the co-occurrence of domestic/intimate partner violence and child abuse. Second, children who witness domestic violence face significant risks, including behavioral, emotional, and physical health related challenges and experiencing other abuses in the home. Children who are exposed to domestic violence often present with depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, anger, guilt, fear, and violence towards peers. According to the Impact of Domestic Violence on Children study, children as young as 5 have a tendency to lose respect for the victim and identify with the aggressor. Since it is understood that partner violence is a learned behavior and not the result of addiction, genetics, disease, or the fault of the victim; services for batterers are vital to ensure safety for women and children, reduce recidivism, teach responsible behavior, and to break the "legacy of violence and oppression" within familial relationships.

Deborah Reeves, MSW
Former CEBC Advisory Committee Member

Topic Expert

The Domestic/Intimate Partner Violence: Batterer Intervention Programs topic area was added in 2007. Jeffrey L. Edleson, PhD was the topic expert and was involved in identifying and rating any of the programs with an original load date in 2007 (as found on the bottom of the program's page on the CEBC) or others loaded earlier and added to this topic area when it launched. The topic area has grown over the years and any programs added since 2007 were identified by CEBC staff, the Scientific Panel, and/or the Advisory Committee. For these programs, Dr. Edleson was not involved in identifying or rating them.

Topic Expert

The Domestic/Intimate Partner Violence: Batterer Intervention Programs topic area was added in 2007. Jeffrey L. Edleson, PhD was the topic expert and was involved in identifying and rating any of the programs with an original load date in 2007 (as found on the bottom of the program's page on the CEBC) or others loaded earlier and added to this topic area when it launched. The topic area has grown over the years and any programs added since 2007 were identified by CEBC staff, the Scientific Panel, and/or the Advisory Committee. For these programs, Dr. Edleson was not involved in identifying or rating them.

Programs

Another Way…Choosing to Change

Another Way…Choosing to Change (AWCTC) is a victim-centered, manualized curriculum to address intimate partner violence for all adult offenders. Formatted for 2-hour group sessions which can be delivered in either 26 or 52 session programs, it covers topics which meet California and other state requirements. The program consists of a step-by-step facilitator guide to accompany the participant handbook and uses publicly available video clips and discussions to identify abusive behaviors and teach healthy relationship behaviors. There are separate curricula for men and women in English and in Spanish.

AWCTC utilizes adult learning strategies and Risk/Needs/Responsivity principles, through the lens of trauma-informed care. It is designed to effectively engage participants for transformational behavior change. While the curriculum is designed with sound clinical interventions, it is written for a nonclinical practitioner to be able to use. Facilitators are provided with a variety of activities and “scripts” to deliver psychoeducational material aimed to engage and intrinsically motivate participants to change problematic beliefs and behaviors.

Scientific Rating 3

Domestic Abuse Intervention Project – The Duluth Model

The DAIP was designed in 1981 as a Coordinated Community Response (CCR) and includes law enforcement, the criminal and civil courts, and human service providers working together to make communities safer for victims. The DAIP, located in Duluth, Minnesota, includes a 28-week education program for offenders. This model is commonly referred to as the "Duluth Model." The program uses the curriculum Creating a Process of Change for Men Who Batter, which was developed by the DAIP. Advocates at the DAIP contact the partners of men court-ordered to the program to offer advocacy, community resources, and education groups for women.

Scientific Rating 3

Fathers for Change

F4C is an individual clinical intervention for fathers who have used violence with their partners and/or children and may have co-occurring substance misuse. F4C addresses 9 individually focused core topics, 4 co-parent communication topics, and 5 father-child focused topics in 60-minute individual therapy sessions over 18-24 weeks. In the context of a strong working alliance developed through focus on fatherhood, F4C employs a continual emphasis on reflective functioning and emotion regulation skills. Improvement in these targets in turn leads to reduced IPV and child maltreatment. F4C motivates the father to change by continually recognizing his desire to be a better parent and facilitating his ability to reflect on the experiences of his co-parent and children and learn skills to manage his emotions to improve outcomes for his family. It offers optional coparent and child participation in some sessions of the intervention when deemed appropriate and safe by the treating therapist.

Scientific Rating 3

Alternative Behavior Choices

Alternative Behavior Choices (ABC) is a 16-52 week manualized psychoeducational program (i.e., a program that educates about the psychology pertaining to the clients' thoughts, feeling, and behaviors) for voluntary as well as court-ordered clients who have perpetrated emotional and/or physical abuse upon their intimate partners. The curriculum follows the Risk-Need-Responsivity model, consisting of 16 core lessons, based on the latest risk factor research. ABC takes into account the needs of individual clients based on an assessment protocol that uses reliable and validated instruments, as well as principles of Motivational Interviewing. The program contains 16 core lessons, with accompanying workbook exercises. Clients who attend more than the minimum 16 sessions are given additional workbook exercises for weeks 18-34, and for weeks 35-52.

Scientific Rating NR

The Emerge Program

Emerge's mission is to eliminate violence in intimate relationships. In working toward this goal, Emerge seeks to educate individual abusers, prevent young people from learning to accept violence in their relationships, improve institutional responses to domestic violence, and increase public awareness about the causes and solutions to partner violence. With the development of parenting education groups for fathers, Emerge has recently expanded its mission to include a goal of helping men to become more responsible parents.

Emerge teaches that domestic violence is a learned behavior, not a disease or a sickness. Emerge supports grassroots, institutional and cultural efforts to stop partner violence, sexual assault, and child abuse. Emerge recognizes that other oppressive life circumstances such as racism, poverty, and homophobia create a climate that contributes to partner violence.

Scientific Rating NR

The STOP Domestic Violence Program

The STOP Domestic Violence Program integrates contemporary and innovative interventions for treating male domestic violence offenders. Designed for both military and civilian populations, the STOP Program is a psychologically based intervention that aims to reach the very offenders who often seem so unapproachable.

Using client-centered guidelines, the program integrates a package of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) skills, video vignettes, and education about the politics of abuse. While always insisting on full accountability, the program recognizes that offenders can have a profound sense of powerlessness in relationships and is designed to equip them with better models for developing a wider range of emotionally intelligent skills.

Treatment providers will find that the program has an outlined philosophical orientation. The intervention is designed to be engaging and user-friendly and aims to open bold new avenues to help offenders deal with the powerful relationship issues with which they are struggling.

Scientific Rating NR

Programs

Another Way…Choosing to Change

Another Way…Choosing to Change (AWCTC) is a victim-centered, manualized curriculum to address intimate partner violence for all adult offenders. Formatted for 2-hour group sessions which can be delivered in either 26 or 52 session programs, it covers topics which meet California and other state requirements. The program consists of a step-by-step facilitator guide to accompany the participant handbook and uses publicly available video clips and discussions to identify abusive behaviors and teach healthy relationship behaviors. There are separate curricula for men and women in English and in Spanish.

AWCTC utilizes adult learning strategies and Risk/Needs/Responsivity principles, through the lens of trauma-informed care. It is designed to effectively engage participants for transformational behavior change. While the curriculum is designed with sound clinical interventions, it is written for a nonclinical practitioner to be able to use. Facilitators are provided with a variety of activities and “scripts” to deliver psychoeducational material aimed to engage and intrinsically motivate participants to change problematic beliefs and behaviors.

Scientific Rating 3

Domestic Abuse Intervention Project – The Duluth Model

The DAIP was designed in 1981 as a Coordinated Community Response (CCR) and includes law enforcement, the criminal and civil courts, and human service providers working together to make communities safer for victims. The DAIP, located in Duluth, Minnesota, includes a 28-week education program for offenders. This model is commonly referred to as the "Duluth Model." The program uses the curriculum Creating a Process of Change for Men Who Batter, which was developed by the DAIP. Advocates at the DAIP contact the partners of men court-ordered to the program to offer advocacy, community resources, and education groups for women.

Scientific Rating 3

Fathers for Change

F4C is an individual clinical intervention for fathers who have used violence with their partners and/or children and may have co-occurring substance misuse. F4C addresses 9 individually focused core topics, 4 co-parent communication topics, and 5 father-child focused topics in 60-minute individual therapy sessions over 18-24 weeks. In the context of a strong working alliance developed through focus on fatherhood, F4C employs a continual emphasis on reflective functioning and emotion regulation skills. Improvement in these targets in turn leads to reduced IPV and child maltreatment. F4C motivates the father to change by continually recognizing his desire to be a better parent and facilitating his ability to reflect on the experiences of his co-parent and children and learn skills to manage his emotions to improve outcomes for his family. It offers optional coparent and child participation in some sessions of the intervention when deemed appropriate and safe by the treating therapist.

Scientific Rating 3

Alternative Behavior Choices

Alternative Behavior Choices (ABC) is a 16-52 week manualized psychoeducational program (i.e., a program that educates about the psychology pertaining to the clients' thoughts, feeling, and behaviors) for voluntary as well as court-ordered clients who have perpetrated emotional and/or physical abuse upon their intimate partners. The curriculum follows the Risk-Need-Responsivity model, consisting of 16 core lessons, based on the latest risk factor research. ABC takes into account the needs of individual clients based on an assessment protocol that uses reliable and validated instruments, as well as principles of Motivational Interviewing. The program contains 16 core lessons, with accompanying workbook exercises. Clients who attend more than the minimum 16 sessions are given additional workbook exercises for weeks 18-34, and for weeks 35-52.

Scientific Rating NR

The Emerge Program

Emerge's mission is to eliminate violence in intimate relationships. In working toward this goal, Emerge seeks to educate individual abusers, prevent young people from learning to accept violence in their relationships, improve institutional responses to domestic violence, and increase public awareness about the causes and solutions to partner violence. With the development of parenting education groups for fathers, Emerge has recently expanded its mission to include a goal of helping men to become more responsible parents.

Emerge teaches that domestic violence is a learned behavior, not a disease or a sickness. Emerge supports grassroots, institutional and cultural efforts to stop partner violence, sexual assault, and child abuse. Emerge recognizes that other oppressive life circumstances such as racism, poverty, and homophobia create a climate that contributes to partner violence.

Scientific Rating NR

The STOP Domestic Violence Program

The STOP Domestic Violence Program integrates contemporary and innovative interventions for treating male domestic violence offenders. Designed for both military and civilian populations, the STOP Program is a psychologically based intervention that aims to reach the very offenders who often seem so unapproachable.

Using client-centered guidelines, the program integrates a package of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) skills, video vignettes, and education about the politics of abuse. While always insisting on full accountability, the program recognizes that offenders can have a profound sense of powerlessness in relationships and is designed to equip them with better models for developing a wider range of emotionally intelligent skills.

Treatment providers will find that the program has an outlined philosophical orientation. The intervention is designed to be engaging and user-friendly and aims to open bold new avenues to help offenders deal with the powerful relationship issues with which they are struggling.

Scientific Rating NR